Safety-guard for electric tram-cars or similarly-propelled vehicles.



PATENTED JUNE 9, 190 3.

R. S. BURN.

- SAFETY GUARD FOR ELECTRIC TRAM CARS OR SIMILARLY PROPELLED VEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2, 1002.

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0 0 Q 0 9 3% hr No. 730,740. PATENTED JUNE 9, 1903.

R. s. BURN.- SAFETY GUARD FOR ELECTRIC TRAM CARS 0R SIMILARLY PROPELLEDVEHICLES.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 2, 1902.

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UNITED STATES Patented June 9, 1903.

PATENT OFFIC ROBINSON SCALING BURN, OF KINGSTON-UPON-HULL, ENGLAND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 730,740, dated June 9,1903.

Application filed August 2, 1902.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBINSON SCALING BURN, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain and Ireland, residing at Kingston-upon-Hull, in the countyof York, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inSafety-Guards for Electric Tram-Oars and the Like or Similarly-PropelledVehicles; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilledin the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to safety-guards to be used in connection withtram-cars and the like vehicles when designed for propulsion byelectrical or other self-propelling or mechanical power as distinguishedfrom horses running in front, and has for its object the prevention ofaccidents when persons or obstructions of a dangerous size areencountered by the car when in motion.

By the application of my invention serious accidents are prevented,especially of the kind in which a person or dangerous obstructionmight'be drawn under the car, the guard being so constructed and adaptedfor its purpose that any person or obstruction coming into contacttherewith is rolled onto the guard and lodged onto the tray, recess, orcavity provided in the same until the car is pulled up.

A guard constructed according to my invention is broughtinto actionautomatically and is in no way dependent upon the watch; fulness orassistance of the driver. Its efficiency is not affected by the rise andfall of the car when loaded or unloaded norby the oscillation or tiltingof the car, which sometimes takes place, especially when passing over acrossing.

Having thus indicated the nature and utility of my invention, I will nowproceed to describe a convenient method of applying it to the usual typeof tram-car for electrical propulsion, in which the guard is placedunder the platform of the car at any distance from the front which maybe found desirable.

In order to illustrate the operation of my invention, I have embodied itin the form Serial No. 118,195. (No model.)

shown in the annexed sheets of drawings as being especially applicableto street or tram cars, it being understood that the principle ofaction, with modifications of detail, is also applicable to othervehicles which are mechanically propelled and are therefore liable toencounter obstructions in the like manner and with the like results.

In the drawings the body of the car is omitted and only those partsincluded by way of diagram which are concerned with the applicationthereto of my said invention.

Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation of the front part of an electrictrain-car with my improved guard or obstruction-remover attachedthereto, showing the guard or fender in its normal position. Fig. 2 is aplan view of the apparatus itself, the underframe or body of the carbeing entirely removed. Fig. 3 is a frontelevation corresponding to Fig.1; and Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 1, showing the guard in actionwhen an obstruction has been encountered.

In its general construction two side frames 0. d of any suitable designor material, with an upper "frame a connected to them, are pivotallyhung in brackets 19 I), attached to the under portion of the car, eachside frame being furnished at the forward portion thereof with a roller0, adapted to run on the tramlines or tram-track, being made ofcast-iron or other hard or durable material, such as lignum-vitze orhard wood,- which may be covered with corrugated india-rubber to inducegrip and make as little noise as possi ble. These rollers are mountedeach on its own axle as an attachment to the side frames, or they may be.mounted in any other way desirable, so long as they are adapted to runupon the tram line or track as bearers to the guard-frame whenever theguard is brought into action.

The front of the guard consists of an indiarubber or composite roller(Z, of suitable material or hard wood, on an iron or steel spindleextending across the track of the tram-car and mounted on a centerspindle journaled into the side frames. \Vhen the guard is brought intoaction, as shown in Fig. 4, this roller is kept just clear of theground-level and rises and falls automatically to suit the unevenness ofthe ground. To insure this result, the rollers c or line-runners aremade to touch the ground first and of course revolve in the samedirection as the car-wheels; but the front or guard roller d mustrevolve in the reverse direction to the travel of the car, this beingessential for the purpose of my invention. This reverse motion isproduced byany suitable mechanism, such as affixing a small spur-Wheel con each side frame, each gearing into a wheel 01 on each end of theguard-roller d, the said'gearing being driven from the side-framerunners c or car-axles. It will thus be seen that the effect of thisguard-roller d running in the reverse direction to the travel of the carwill be to draw any person or object in the Way of the tram-car onto theguard to be lodged onto the tray or receptacle e,provided for thepurpose. Guard-plates are provided so as to prevent any object becomingentangled with the runners c. The tray or receptacle e, which extendstoward the back portion of the guard at e, takes the form of a cavity orapron or stretcher of any desired size ordepth,interlacedwithwire-netting,perforated zinc, or other suitablematerial, onto which, as before stated, the object encountered isconveyed by the action of the front or guard roller d.

It will thus be observed from the foregoing description that the sideframes being pivoted on brackets 12 and the forward part thereoffurnished with rollers 0, adapted to run on the tram-lines, when theguard is brought into action the picking-up or guard roller d willalways be kept clear of the ground and the weight of the guard and thereverse motion of the roller d will do away with any possibility of anyperson or object being drawn under the guard.

The sides of the guard are provided with wire-netting protectors set inframes, or any other suitable method may be adopted for the samepurpose.

A further important feature of. my invention is to prevent the guardbeing in constant operation, thus saving a considerable amount of wearand tear and loss of power to the tramcar and yet to insure that thesame shall commence working instantaneously and automatically whenrequired or, in other words, when any person or object collides with thecar. To accomplish this, a turnstile f, latticed and made as light andefficient as possible, is pivotally suspended in brackets gg or hungdown in front of the car. This turnstile is pivoted in the center at hor preferably a little nearer the top, and the liberating action ofdrop-gear is taken from the top portion thereof. On

the top edge of this turnstile a smaller roller '11 is provided in linewith the forearm a of the upper arms a of the side frames of the guard,which forearm extends toward the front of the car, so as to rest on theroller t.

When the guard is not in operation,the linerunners c are in this Waylifted any suitable distance clear of the lines, as shown moreparticularly in Fig. 1. When an obstruction is encountered, theturnstile is'pushed in,which dislodges the upper forearm a therebyautomatically dropping the roller-frame onto the runners, which then runalong the track, preferably on the tram-rails, as shown moreparticularly in Fig. 4. The effect of this arrangement is that theinward movement of the turnstile deprives the guard-frame of the supportprovided to keep the guard and its runnersclearoftheground.Consequentlyasthe guard-frame drops the runners are brought into contactwith the ground and the guard into action. Having effected its purpose,the turnstile f drops back to its normal position by gravity and indoing so lifts the guard to its normal position. In order to prevent theturnstile from swinging about through the motion of the car, the forearma is recessed at a to the extent sufficient to prevent this, or, ifdesired, suitable means maybe attached to the footboard of the car toenable the driver to lift the guard clear of the ground after same hasbeen in operation; but this may be done in any convenient Way beforerestarting the car.

In conclusion I would observe that having illustrated in the drawingsforming part of this specification the essential features of myinvention, together with the use to which it is applicable, it must beunderstood that I do not restrict myself to the precise details orconstruction as shown, as changes in form, proportion, and the minordetails of construction may be resorted to without departing from theprinciple or sacrificing the advantages of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, isl 1. A safety-guard for electric, or othervehicles, comprising a pivotally-suspended guardframe,supporting-rollers mounted in said frame, a guard-roller extendingacross the front of said guard-frame, means for rotating said roller ina reverse direction to that of said supporting-rollers, an upper framecarried by said guard-frame, a turnstile pivotally suspended in advanceof said guardframe and adapted to normally retain said upper frame in anelevated position.

2. A safety-guard for electric or other vehicles,comprisin g apivotally-suspended guard frame, supporting-rollers mounted in theforward end of said frame, a guard-roller mountedin advance of saidsupporting-rollers, gearing interposed between said guard and supportingrollers to cause said guard-roller to rotate in a reverse direction tothat of said supporting-rollers, an upper frame extending forwardly fromsaid guard-frame, brackets between which said upper frame passes,

' a turnstile or gate pivotally suspended from said brackets, and an armcarried by said 5 turnstile to normally retain said upper frameelevated, and to automatically release said frame from its normalposition.

ROBINSON SCALING BURN.

Witnesses HATTIE GoMEoK, CHARLES LARARD;

